Year 3 and 4
Autumn Term First Half - The Tudors
Message in a Bottle
Shiver me timbers and splice the mainbrace! The classes will conscripted by Captain Spinner of The Golden Yarn and so the adventures start. But, things go very wrong and, finding themselves shipwrecked, the crew are thrown on their own resources. How will they survive? How can they tell someone about their plight? The children will use this exciting scenario as a springboard to stimulate their learning.
Science will be a study of materials and their properties. What materials are best for building a shelter? Keeping themse;ves warm/cool? They will identify uses of some common materials, suggesting several reasons why the material is unsuitable. They will take measurements of length using standard units; explain that it is important to test materials to find out whether descriptions of characteristics are reliable and to recognise when a test or comparison is unfair.
Literacy will ccover thesaurus work, writing instructions, performance poetry, letters, diaries and adventure stories.
Numeracy will focus on adding and subtracting corssing multiples of 10; reading the time on analogue and digital clocks; understanding times and divide and repeated addition and subtraction; fractions; rounding numbers; counting in 10s 100s and 50s and odd and even numbers.
Geography offers the opportunity to explore the 8 main compass points and 4 figure grid references as well as identifying familiar features on a map using symbols.
In Design Technology, the children will have to design and make a purse, using sewing skills, suitable for holding a pirate's coin.
The children will learn how to combine text and graphics in ICT.
The message of Jesus will form our RE unit leading into the message of Christmas. The children will use painting skills in art to create vivid storm pictures and use weaving boards to make 'blankets' out of unusual materials.
Autumn Term Second Half
Goldfinch - Funny Bones
This term in science, Goldfinch class will be finding out about the human skeleton. We will make comparisons between human and animal skeletons and discuss the ways in which animals and humans move. We will be investigating muscle strength and bone growth and use a variety of media to create our own skeleton images.
Stories about Imaginary Worlds will be read in literacy. We will also read 'The Lion, Tthe Witch and The Wardrobe' and discuss characters, settings and events. We will also compare the BBC NArnia series to the written story by C.S. Lewis. We will also read part of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, sketch and describe characters and write our own chapter for the story.
We will focus on the Mad Hatters Tea Party to make salt dough refreshments on DT and make Mad Hats in preparation for our Royal Visit and opening celebrations.
We will conclude our unit by writing our own story about an imaginary world.
In RE we will focus on the Christmas story and different representations and messages. We will, in our Christmas performance, be thinking about what Christ,as really means to us and, through drama, recreate tje Christmas story.
Spring Term First Half
Goldfinch - Into India
This term we will be learning about India. After an Indian themes family day where the children will experience a wealth of Indian activitied, Goldfinch class will consider the location and climate of India. We will compare housing, school and work to where we live using our geography skills.
In RE we will look at Hinduism, the main Indian faith and learn about the Indian God Braham and the many different forms he is represented in. We will briefly consider how Hindus worship and how their religion affects their every day life. We will compare Hinduism to Christianity, revisiting work previously covered.
Our art this half term will focus on Rangoli patterns. We will also create images of India using batik and dying techniques using melted wax.
In science this half term we will be looking at materials and their properties. We will consider melting and freezing as ways in which materials can be changed and think about whether changes can be reversed. We will also be considering how to separate materials.
Spring TermSecond Half
Spring into Action!
This science topic will be based around the study of magnets and springs. The children will have oportunities to experiment with equipment to give them the experiences of forces. Children will be investigating which materials are magnetic and how to thest the strength of magnets. Springs and elastic bands will be investigated to see how they can be used to move an object. The uises of magnets and springs will also be looked at.
In literacy lessons we weill be encouraging the children with their spellings through a range of spelling strategies. We will also be focusing on the importance of good quality handwriting skills across all areas of their learning.
Numeracy will cover all four operations, with particular focus on multiplication and division. The children will also study fractions and data handling.
In PE we will be continuing with football skills and well also attempt some country dancing, which always a fun experience for the children. (and staff!)
Re will follow an easter theme and the children will use their increasing ICT skills across all subjects.
French will focus on building vocabulary through speaking and listening games. As the weather improves we will be able to go outside to study our local environment, how it has changed and how we can improve it.